Nor are (alike) the living (believers) and the dead (disbelievers). Verily, Allâh makes whom He will hear, but you cannot make hear those who are in graves. (Fatir 35:22)Allah says that these antonyms are clearly not equal, the blind and the seeing are not equal, there is a difference and a huge gap between them. Darkness and light are not equal, neither are shade and the sun's heat. By the same token, the living and the dead are not equal. This is the parable Allah makes of the believers who are the living, and the disbelievers who are the dead. This is like the Ayat

(Is he who was dead and We gave him life and set for him a light (of belief) whereby he can walk amongst men -- like him who is in the (depths of) darkness from which he can never come out)(6:122),[مَثَلُ الْفَرِيقَيْنِ كَالاٌّعْمَى وَالاٌّصَمِّ وَالْبَصِيرِ وَالسَّمِيعِ هَلْ يَسْتَوِيَانِ مَثَلاً]

(The parable of the two parties is as that of the blind and the deaf and the seer and the hearer. Are they equal when compared) (11:24) The believer sees and hears, and walks in the light upon a straight path in this world and the Hereafter, until he comes to settle in Gardens (Paradise) wherein is shade and springs. The disbeliever is blind and deaf, walking in darkness from which he cannot escape, he is lost in his misguidance in this world and the Hereafter, until he ends up in fierce hot wind and boiling water, and shadow of black smoke, neither cool nor good.[إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ مَن يَشَآءُ](Verily, Allah makes whom He wills to hear,) means. He guides them to listen to the proof and accept it and adhere it.[وَمَآ أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِى الْقُبُورِ](but you cannot make hear those who are in graves.) means, `just as the dead cannot benefit from guidance and the call to truth after they have died as disbelievers and ended up in the graves, so too you cannot help these idolators who are decreed to be doomed, and you cannot guide them.'"

Imam Suyuti says in his Al-hawi lil Fatawa referring to the ayaat quoted above, vol. 2 p. 169-175: "It is an Allegorical statement (an-Nafi Ja'a ala m'ana al -Majaz). The Real meaning of this is that "They cannot listen to Guidance (Ma'naha Sama' Huda) i.e. they are dead and cannot be guided anymore."

This is the parable that Allah makes of the mu'mineen who are living, and the Kaafireen who are the dead. This is the like the Aayat,"Is he who was dead and we gave him life and set for him a light whereby he can walk amongst men – like him who is in the darkness from which he can never come out?" [6:122]Ibn Jarēr At-Tabari (rahimahullah) stated after this Aayah,وَكُلّ هَذِهِ أَمْثَال ضَرَبَهَا اللَّه لِلْمُؤْمِنِ وَالْإِيمَان , وَالْكَافِر وَالْكُفْر"And all of these examples Allah has set forth regarding the Mu'min and Eemaan and the Kaafir and Al-Kufr."If you notice, our opponents in this issue attempt to use the statements of Qataadah to prove their points. So we ask them,a) How is a statement from a non-witness to the account proof? Qataadah was born much later, was from the 2 generation, and is not proof.b) Futhermore, Why is it that you do not accept Qataadah's tafseer of these aayaat that speak of the dead being unable to hear or those in their graves being unable to hear?

Without a doubt, Qataadah believed these aayaat to be examples and not literal as he stated

This meaning was also attested to by Imām Al-Baydhāwi in his tafseer as well as the tafseer of Ibn Abi Haatim.So we find that all of the major Mufassireen of the past understood this Aayah to be majāzi (metaphorical).

The twenty-second ayat al-karima of Surat al-Fatir, which says, "You cannot make the dead hear. You cannot make those in graves hear!"

However, it was not in this sense; as the great 'ulama' explained, the word 'hear' in the ayat al-karima is used in the sense of 'accepting by hearing' or 'believing.' In such ayats, Allahu ta'ala likens the living disbelievers who have ears, eyes and brains to the dead in graves. This analogy is not in respect of hearing or understanding, but of apathy and stubbornness, that is, unwillingness and disbelieving. Willingness to believe is of no use to the disbeliever when he, in his last illness, begins to see his place in the next world. "Your call to belief to those who are decreed to be evildoers in eternity is of no use to them," Allahu ta'ala declared. Inviting such people to belief is of no use for them just as the belief of the people in graves who believe after they see the things which they should have believed without seeing. Such belief of the dead is not accepted. 'Hearing' in the ayat al-karima is used in the sense of 'accepting.